


if the stars were mine

by caughtinkhanded



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Season 1 but Laura's also a vampire, Vampire!Laura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 04:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15331743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caughtinkhanded/pseuds/caughtinkhanded
Summary: The real problem was the ‘capture the vampire’ plot Laura now found herself integral to. There was something fundamentally flawed with this whole use the vampire as vampire bait theory for the girl who was certainly not a vampire (Laura would’ve known, wouldn’t she?).There was no way in hell her roommate was a vampire. She would’ve known. She couldn’t have missed out on everything. Everybody was just overreacting to a few coincidences.-or-Laura's a vampire and when her roommate goes missing, it's up to Laura to solve the mystery.





	1. a cactus and a lily

**Author's Note:**

> story title from "if the stars were mine" by melody gardot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter i. title from "seen my man" by trixie mattel
> 
> some dialogue is taken from the show, you should recognize it as clearly not mine

**chapter i. a cactus and a lily**

 

Laura Hollis was a journalist first and foremost. That was why she ended up at some bizarre university in rural Austria: its rather impressive journalism department and the great story just waiting to happen with the disappearances of girls that seem to happen like clockwork. Laura was here for the story. And the stellar education, of course.   
  
Oh, and she was a vampire. She wasn't one of the ancient ones. For Stoker's sake, she hadn't even seen the moon landing, much to most vampires' vocal disappointment. Laura hadn't figured out exactly why that was such an important moment to vampires, but it was.    
  
No, Laura turned when she was 19 in 1990. So she really couldn't even be properly dramatic when she wanted to. It's far more intimidating for a vampire to say they were centuries old rather than less than 30 years. People tended not to take you seriously then. Add in the fact that Laura barely scraped 5'2" and tended towards bright colors and it didn't make for the most obvious vampire.    
  
But that what was so great about Laura, at least in her opinion. She could blend in. While other vampires were too concerned with the state of their ridiculous leather goods or reminiscing about the Renaissance, Laura just seemed like every other vaguely nostalgic millennial with a fascination for fantasy and science fiction.    
  
Regardless of her vampire status or not, Laura had come to Silas University on a mission. Girls kept going missing and nobody seemed to be paying attention.    
  
Or at least they hadn't until Laura had stumbled upon an article in the deep recesses of the internet about the missing girls. Within a month, Laura had packed her bags and was off to Austria.    
  
Her father drove her to the airport, lecturing as he went. "Now, Laura, we don't know what kind of supernatural forces could be at work here, so you'll need to be on your guard. It could be some sort of cult or maybe something not even supernatural."    
  
"I know. Don't worry, Dad, I've got all of my safety stuff. Remember you packed it?"    
  
Her father furrowed his brow as he pulled into the airport. "I just worry. You've only had 24 years to adjust. That's practically less than a blink to some of our kind."    
  
"You say that like you're some ancient being."    
  
"202 years is quite respectable." Her dad chuckled, puffing his chest up. "Anyway, like I was saying," He continued to re-explain the various techniques for destroying supernatural beings. Laura smiled to herself, even as she tuned him out.    
  
"Dad, I better get going. I still need to go through security." Laura loved her dad, but there was a level of protection and rambling that got old after a few years.    
  
"Oh, right, of course, honey. Let's get your stuff."    
  
Two massive suitcases that Laura wouldn't have been able to lift as a mortal and five teary hugs later, Laura and Sherman were saying their final goodbyes.    
  
"I'm as proud of you as if you were my real daughter, Laura. This is a brave thing you're doing. You just need to keep yourself safe. You never know what kind of surprises you'll find in Austria." Sherman brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face as he stared down at her. "Be safe, Laura Hollis."    
  
"I will, Dad. I'll call when I get there."    
  
"Oh, right, cell phones. I always forget those are a thing. I still much prefer a letter."    
  
"Someday, I'm going to get you into this century. Maybe when I'm back we can go and get you an iPhone." Laura patted her father's cheek lovingly before pressing a brief kiss there. Sherman pulled her in for one last hug, muttering "I love you, kid." into her hair.    
  
xxx    
  
So far Silas was strange and the same as far as universities go. Comparatively to the other universities Laura had attended in her 43 years, so far there wasn’t anything that she was thrown by. 

 

Sure, the fraternity was obnoxious, but weren’t they all? And the alchemy club was odd, although you’d be hard pressed to not find weirdos at any school, but most didn’t gang press test subjects, so something to be noted. The campus of Silas just had a bit more of a supernatural vibe to it. 

 

Or at least that was Laura’s theory until her roommate Betty disappeared one night. 

 

When she picked up that card, the weird factor at Silas skyrocketed, like significantly. “‘Dear Student, your roommate no longer attends Silas …’ What the what?” Laura lifted her gaze slowly to the camera beeping red above her laptop. 

 

She had just been making the video series for her journalism class about her life at Silas for nothing better to do. Now she had a story. Now she had something tangible. That was always her goal: to find the truth. That had been her goal in her tragically short life and that was still her goal. 

 

And really, who did the school administration think they were fooling with that ridiculous card? 

 

Laura was going to find her roommate, goddamnit. Betty would not disappear, not under Laura Hollis’ nose. 

 

xxx

 

Laura slumped down in her desk chair. For being the undead, Laura was feeling warily close to exhaustion. After a dramatic pause, Laura launched into her monologue: “This is insane.  There were hundreds of kids at that mixer and nobody saw anything. Like, our floor don, Perry, ‘Um, I may have seen her dancing across the quad, but I don’t know, things just got so foggy after the alchemy guys released, you know, the fog.’ Or the creeps from Zeta Omega Mu, ‘Uh, like a hottie in a pink halter?  I hit, like, three of those last night, chiquita’. Or, anybody, really ‘Yeah, but wasn’t she with you?’ She was. God, why didn’t I keep better track of her? What the hell happened last night?” 

 

She felt so powerless. She couldn’t even find one measly lead. 

 

Laura was so wrapped in her own thoughts she didn’t even hear the door open quietly behind her. 

 

“Hey.” 

 

Laura spun around quickly in her hair. “Uh, excuse me, but who the hell are you?” 

 

“Carmilla, I’m your new roommate, sweetheart.” 

 

xxx

 

By the end of the first day living together, Laura had come to the conclusion that Carmilla was one of the, if not the most aggravating people she had ever had the displeasure of meeting. 

 

By the second, she was pretty much certain that there was something like severely wrong with her roommate; how could one person be so messy and obnoxious and rude and flirty and hot at once? It shouldn’t be possible. 

 

By the third, Laura was fully convinced that Carmilla had been put on earth to annoy her for eternity. 

 

But then blood had come out of Carmilla’s special “soy milk” and Laura would fully own up to the fact that she had screamed. 

 

That in turn had caused her floor don, Perry and her friend, LaFontaine to rush in. 

 

“Where’s the fire, frosh?” Laf asked, skidding to a stop behind a very concerned Perry. “Whoa, is that what I think it is?” 

 

“Blood. In the milk container.  In my creepy roommate’s milk container.  So, she’s gotta go, right? I mean, this is like, a death threat, or a health code violation.  And the time has come for Carmilla to go.” Laura babbled, motioning frantically towards the bowl half filled with cereal and half with blood. Laura’s stomach churned at the smell of blood. She hadn’t been keeping any in the room, choosing instead to sparingly borrow from the medical center. But suddenly, her hunger was making itself known. 

 

Her eyes felt vaguely cloudy as she listened to the two gingers argue behind her. The sound of their blood pounded in her ears. Perry smelled like some sort of baked good, like sugar and cinnamon and lilies and cleaning product. Laf didn’t smell quite as literally edible as Perry; their smell was somewhere closer to a fire, like the smell of smoke after a firework, but maybe also something earthier. Laura wasn’t sure. Her head was fuzzy. She was so hungry. 

 

_ No _ . She snapped internally, shaking her head slightly as if to break herself out of her daze. 

 

“As this floor’s unofficial truthspeaker,” Laf continued, “I’m gonna tell frosh she needs to wise up in order to survive.” 

 

Laura’s eyes darted between the two older students as she nodded. “Oh, see, surviving.  Yes, I like that plan. And in order to do that, we need to get rid of Carmilla.” 

 

“Well, it’s not that I don’t understand, but maybe all of this could be solved through communication? Communication can solve a lot of issues. ” Perry offered, shrugging a shoulder. 

 

“So can blood and tissue samples.” 

 

“Blood and tissue samples?” Laura asked warily as she eyed the syringe Laf had produced. 

 

“Yeah, a bit of research and dissection can help you know what kind of super freaky you’re dealing with.” Laf had a manic glint in their eyes that concerned Laura slightly, but the priority was the creepy “soy” milk. Laf stepped forward to test the blood. “I wonder if this is real or just some creepy Halloween store stuff. Knowing Silas, it’s probably definitely blood.” 

 

“It’s blood,” blurted out Laura before she could catch herself. “I mean, it seems real.” She stumbled to correct her mistake as Laf and Perry eyed her curiously. 

 

“Sure, frosh. Maybe I’ll just take a quick sample.” 

 

“Sus- LaFontaine.” Perry scolded, batting away LaFontaine’s hand. 

 

“Okay, well testing aside, if you can’t help me, do you think I should go to the Dean?” 

 

The mere mention of the Dean caused the two redheads to spiral into frantic warnings about the horror of the Dean and something about draco-pyromaniacs, which frankly, Laura was so not here for. 

 

But then Perry mentions something about the other girls who had disappeared. 

 

“I’m sorry, did you just say ‘All the other girls who went missing’, as in this has happened already and nobody’s said anything?” Laura asked, her mind racing with the possibilities. 

 

It took all of Laura’s journalistic instinct to draw the information out of a very reluctant Perry who had managed to truly block out all of the strange and unusual happenings of Silas. She needed to speak with those girls and figure out what was going on. 5 girls had gone missing every 20 years for the past, well recorded history of the area. 

 

“Well, maybe not right now.  Um, they weren’t hurt or anything, just shaken up, and you’re a little intense.” Perry explained nervously. 

 

“Intense?” She was not intense, she was driven, Laura thought to herself. 

 

The other ginger cut in, “She means they’re traumatized and you’re on a mission, girl.”

 

“But, I’ll talk to them,” Perry continued, “and see if they feel up to meeting you, okay?

 

“Yeah, okay.” Laura acquiesced, moving to sit back down in her chair. As soon as she had, the roommate from hell reappeared - in one of Betty’s shirts, of course. 

 

Carmilla barely acknowledged anyone else in the room before striping off Betty’s shirt. Laura’s eyes were instantly drawn to the wide expanses of Carmilla’s smooth skin. Some distant part of her mind wondered what her skin might taste like, what it might feel like. But Laura quickly shoved that line of thought away. She was definitely not attracted to her creepy and annoying roommate. 

 

She watched as Carmilla sauntered over to the fridge, all punk rock and leather. “Yeah, you’re not going to find your ‘soy milk’ in there.” Carmilla froze and Laura could’ve sworn there was a briefest flash of concern in her eyes before she spat out, “It was just a prank.” 

 

“A prank? You filled a milk container with blood as a prank?” 

 

“It was just food coloring… and… and corn syrup.” 

 

Laura rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in the air. “Ugh, you’re such a… such a freak!” 

 

“There are worse things to be.” 

 

“What? Like a carmy cold sore? That would be worse.” Laura smiled triumphantly at the flash of irritation on the other girl’s face. Her little core sore story had been rather clever in her humble opinion. Nothing like the threat of a cold sore to thwart Carmilla’s endless stream of study buddies.    

 

“Oh, were you the one spreading those little rumors?” Carmilla slouched down on her bed, a wry grin stretching across her lips. “Nice try.” Laura pouted involuntarily, her agitation with the other girl reaching her face. “That bunched-up little face you make when you’re angry is hilarious, buttercup.” 

 

Oh, how Laura wanted to throttle her. She didn’t even want to bite her. Just make her shut up. Kissing her - whoa, no, she definitely did not want to kiss her mistress-of-the-dark-wannabe roommate. Laura’s fingers twitched her side as Carmilla watched her bemusedly. 

 

“I wonder how hilarious it’ll be when I get the Dean of Students to kick you out.” Laura snapped, looking for something to wipe the smug look off of Carmilla’s stupid face. 

 

The dark haired girl chuckled, Laura’s comment somehow amusing her.”You, whining to the Dean?  I’d pay to see that.” 

 

Laura grabbed her cell, waving it towards her roommate. “Think I won’t?” She needed to move on from this whole immature roommate thing.  She needed to find those missing girls and Carmilla was just in her way. 

 

“Be my guest.” 

 

Any further action was cut off when the two girls Perry had mentioned appeared in the doorway. Laura was quick to grab her notepad, hoping to distract herself from the dark shadow of gloom and doom on the other bed. Neither girl seemed to know much, but Laura was fairly certain that the disappearances were connected through the parties they attended. 

 

“And you guys don’t remember anything?”

 

The blonde, Sarah Jane, shook her head in frustration. “No.”

 

“I dunno, someone you saw, something that struck you as odd?”

 

“El zilcho.  But, Dagons do have a  ton of sambuca in them, right?  So ….” 

 

Carmilla looked up from her book to interject, “Well there’s the scoop of the century.” Laura was going to kill her and not even in a vampire-y way; more in just a ‘I genuinely want you dead’ kind of way.

 

“Feel free to stuff it.” She snapped, her dark eyes flashing. Carmilla simply sighed and returned to her dumb philosophy book. At least until Natalie mentioned the dreams; that seemed to draw her interest back in. And then she went for creepy whistling. 

 

The small part of Laura’s brain that was strangely attracted to Carmilla wondered what her favorite X-Files episode was. The X-Files had been like a critical part of Laura’s transition as a vampire. In between all of the trying not to actively murder people parts of course. Or the wildly transforming into a bear cub part. Or the sensory overload. Between all of those parts, she had been fascinated by the supernatural world that she was now a part of. 

 

“What is wrong  with you?” 

 

“Right now, I’m out of soy milk,” said Carmilla, her tone dripping with sarcasm. 

 

Carmilla’s little interruption seemed to have spooked the two girls, much to Laura’s chagrin. They hastily made their excuses and left the room, their eyes haunted by the reality of what had happened to them. 

 

“If someone’s going around kidnapping girls, I can see why they threw those two back.” Laura glared at her, wondering if some sort of vampire laser eye could possibly manifest at this precise moment. “Oh, sorry, did I mess up your big break there, Lauronica Mars?”

 

“You’re a jerk.”  _ I’m going to kill you _ , Laura tried to tamp down that thought. There was a line between wanting to kill Carmilla metaphorically and the actual vampire part of her mind wanting to  _ kill  _ Carmilla. She was edging towards that line with every stupid thing Carmilla did. She needed to get herself under control. 

 

“That was a real, actual person, who had something terrifying happen to her,” she ranted, “and all you can do is make crappy jokes!  Are you really so damaged that you’re incapable of caring about anything?”    
  
Carmilla didn’t even bother to look up from her cereal. “And you really think you’re doing anything to help that girl?  To help poor Betty?”    
  
“At least I’m trying to do something.”   
  
“Oh, are you trying your very best? Because, I’m sure if you stay pure of heart and really believe that, that’ll make a difference.”   
  
“Well, it’s better than lounging around all day and pretending to be all cool and disaffected, when really you’re just miserable and alone.” As soon as she said those words, she could feel the atmosphere in the room shift from frustration to anger. She could sense Carmilla’s tension from over her shoulder.    
  
“And do you really think you’re doing a lick of actual good?  Do you know anything you didn’t know the day before she vanished?” Carmilla advanced on her. The animal within Laura wanted to burst out. “You’re a child.  And you understand nothing.” Laura almost wanted to laugh. She was practically middle-aged compared to Carmilla’s 18. “Not about life. Not about this place.  And certainly not about what it takes to survive in a world that - you know what? The sooner you stop playing Lois Lane, the better off you’ll be.” 

 

“No.” 

 

“What?” 

 

“No, I can’t just accept that the world is just about survival. I can’t accept that these girls have just gone missing and nobody cares. Because I care. And maybe you’re right. Maybe the world is cruel and doesn’t care about those girls, but that doesn’t mean I have to accept it. I deserve better. Betty deserves better. Hell, even you deserve better.” Laura wanted to try to be the bigger person here. She was technically the older, more mature of the two. Maybe she shouldn’t resort to petty insults and passive aggressiveness. 

 

In her newfound drive to be the bigger person, Laura ignored the presence behind her and went about uploading her project to the server so everybody could see it and know what’s going on. 

 

“What’re you doing?” 

 

Laura almost turned at the sound of her voice. It was maybe the first time Carmilla had spoken to her without a tone of dripping disdain and disinterest. 

 

“I’m putting my journalism project up online so that all the students at Silas can see it.  And if anyone knows anything about Betty, or the other missing girls, then they can help. We can do this together.” She explained while she typed. 

 

“Well, that’ll be awfully annoying for the University. And the Dean.” Carmilla smirked and holy Hufflepuff, she was pretty. 

 

But Laura could think of worse things than university bureaucracy; especially when there were more important things, like potentially five missing girls. 

 

“Well, then she can come and talk to me about it.”

 

“Oh, I think she might.”

 

“There,” said Laura as she pressed the button, “It’s up.” Practically before she even finished uploading it, a siren screamed to life and lights began to flash. The noise was so jarring to Laura’s already sensitive hearing that she practically jumped out of her chair.  “What is that?”

 

Carmilla burst into laughter over the blaring sirens, “You’ve done it now!”

 

“Is that a fire alarm?”

 

Perry burst into the room, her normally frantic eyes verging towards pure terror. “It’s a town hall meeting!  They’ve called a town hall! Remember your training, we’ve got five minutes! Run, run!” 

 

xxx

 

Okay, so maybe she had been wrong about there being worse things than university bureaucracy. She hadn’t factored in the fact that Silas University was essentially a Byzantine style bureaucracy that operated on the forced compliance of its student body for all of its regulations. 

 

And the Dean was also very scary. Like even the big scary vampire (aka Laura) was freaked out by her. She just gave off this scary Glamazonian vibe with her power suit and bun and six feet of terrifying energy. 

 

But at least she got to hang out with her very pretty Lit TA, Danny as a result of the mildly terrifying town hall. She was intrigued by Danny’s strength and purity. It reminded her a lot of her own vision of the world. That there was good and that good would also overcome evil. 

 

It also didn’t hurt that Danny was an extraordinarily pretty girl with her flame red hair and bright eyes. 

 

“Hey, you know, we should collaborate.  Compare notes. You know, figure things out.  You can document the investigation for your project here.  I think we’d make a pretty great team.”

 

“You and me, a team, yeah, we should do that.”  _ God, 43 years and you’re still a useless lesbian, Hollis.  _

 

“Cool.  Well, I’m gonna go get my notes on our missing sister, and I’ll see you later.” 

 

“Yeah.” If she was still human, she was pretty sure her cheeks would be flushed with color. 

 

Danny smiled down at her from her shocking height. “Okay.” She started to walk towards the door, still smiling at Laura, which would’ve caused a flutter if her heart still beat. 

 

Just as she was heading back towards her desk, there was a knock at the door. She paused, listening intently for whoever was out there. 

 

“Dude, this is their room, I double checked, bro.” 

 

Whoever was outside knocked again. And again. And again. Until Laura opened the door with a sigh, revealing a pair of frat bros. 

 

One she recognized from her English class; he was, to put it delicately, not the brightest. His name was Kirsch? Or something like that. 

 

The other one made her skin crawl. He was dark. His hair, his eyes, his aura. Even the way he stood felt intimidating. It almost seemed as if he should have a low brim hat and be cracking witty comments at Bogie and one of his girls in a smoky room. But alas, he was standing in the middle of her dorm room. 

 

“Hey, little nerd hottie!” The tall one, Kirsch, grinned wildly, stepping a bit too closely into Laura’s space. 

 

“Excuse me, but what are you two doing here?” 

 

“I’m your designated Zeta Omega Mu safety companion. Kinda like an escort.  Only a dude. A dudescort.” Kirsch laughed to himself as if he was letting Laura in on a secret. “How awesome is that?” 

 

Laura nodded slowly, her eyes flitting between the two boys. “Yeah, awesome,” she echoed. 

 

“Is that fish in your hair?” 

 

xxx

 

So, it seemed that on top of being an insufferable human being, Carmilla was also an incredibly violent person and had a biting kink. On the one hand, she was glad that Carmilla had gotten rid of the tall frat boy and his sidekick. But on the other, she bite Kirsch? Like full on bit him? Who even does that. 

 

Other than Laura when she got a bit left of peckish. But she tried not to do that anymore. 

 

“I still can’t believe that you bit him.” 

 

“Haven’t we already gone over this, cupcake?” Carmilla exhaled sharply from behind her thick tome. “Dude bro was fine. I didn’t even draw blood.” 

 

“That is,” said Laura, practically spluttering, “so not the point. The point is you shouldn’t bite other people. Or did you miss that part of kindergarten?” Laura was fully aware of the irony of this lecture, but that was neither here nor there. 

 

Carmilla just seemed amused by Laura’s scolding. “I don’t think I ever went to kindergarten.” 

 

“You didn’t go to kindergarten? Where did you go up?” 

 

“Here and there, everywhere.” Carmilla let out a low chuckle as she turned a page. 

 

“Oh good, Dr. Suess has joined us.” 

 

“Dr. Suess?” 

 

Laura threw her hands up in the air. “Who even are you?” 

 

xxx

 

The next few days passed in a blur. Laura could barely even remember to sleep a bit to seem human. The last thing she needed was somebody getting suspicious about how much she slept. Though, Carmilla probably more than made up for the collective number of sleeping hours in their room considering she was practically nocturnal and spent her days lounging around. 

 

She had made important headway in her research, thanks to Sarah Jane and Natalie and their shocking behavior. Gone were the two scared, but normal girls; they had been replaced by two wild party girls. And that was apparently the pattern for the disappearing girls. 

 

Betty, aka valedictorian and mayoral page Betty, turned out to not be a party girl, but an incredibly serious student, who in all honesty probably shouldn’t have been at Silas in the first place. Needless to say, Laura was shocked. 

 

But more importantly, she needed to figure out what was causing these girls to change so radically. It had to be some sort of curse or something. What else could cause them to so drastically alter their personalities? 

 

However, no case breakthrough could compare to the abject stress and terror of standing in front of the Dean in all of her frightening glory. 

 

“Uh, hi, Miss Dean, can we help you?” 

 

“I’m here to speak with Miss Karnstein.” The sound of her voice sent chills down Laura’s spine and her finger clenched around the door more tightly. 

 

“Who?” 

 

“Carmilla.” 

 

The aforementioned girl appeared at the end of the hallway, her mouth hardening into a straight line. “Dean,” she said in greeting as she moved closer. But it was like watching a gazelle slowly approaching a lion, filled with apprehension and fear. Deeper beyond that it was also almost as if predator recognizing predator. 

 

“Miss Karstein, might I have a word?” 

 

For the briefest of moments, Laura thought Carmilla might say no. But then: “Of course, Dean Morgan. I had no idea you were stopping by today.” 

 

The Dean’s eyes slid towards Laura and Laura just wanted to curl up in a ball and never see the world again. She quickly retreated from the door where Laf and Perry were lingering. 

 

She moved back to her desk chair, briefly narrating to her viewers what was occuring. The other two in the room were chatting loudly which made it even more challenging for her to hear the whispered conversation outside the door. 

 

“What are you doing here, Dean?” hissed Carmilla. 

 

“I came to check on you, dear, you’re falling behind.” 

 

“I have it under control. I’ve barely even been here. It just needs time.” 

 

“I didn’t go out of my way to get you accepted here to have you behaving like this. I expect better of you.” 

 

There was a long pause. Laura could’ve sworn she heard the faintest whimper of pain, but that had to have come from somewhere else. “Of course, I’ll be better.” 

 

“If you don’t take care of the situation,” there was that whimper again, “then I will have to get involved and neither of us want that, right, dear?” 

 

“No, ma’am.” 

 

“Good girl. You best get back to work. I would hate to have to come here again. You know what will happen then, Carmilla, if I have to correct one of your failures again.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.” It tugged at Laura’s heart to hear her roommate so defeated. “I won’t fail.” 

 

She chuckled at one of Laf’s comments, earning her a stern glare from Perry. “What? I know, it’s just she so had it coming.” The door slammed open and Carmilla stormed in. Her face was drawn tight, practically unreadable. 

 

Something stirred within Laura, a toxic mixture of guilt and pity. There was something broken in Carmilla’s eyes, something haunted. She just seemed old, like she had seen too much, had lost too much. 

 

Her gaze remained fixed on Carmilla hunched over on her bed, even as LaFontaine and Perry made their excuses and fled from the tension in the room. 

 

As soon as the two gingers had left, Carmilla’s anger rose to the surface. She grabbed the nearest book, throwing it against the wall. The sound echoed in the room. 

 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Laura offered carefully as if approaching a wounded animal. 

 

Carmilla wiped roughly at her eyes. “No.” 

 

“Cause, a personal chewing out by the Dean of Students, that is impressively badass or something.” Laura tried to keep her tone as light as possible. Carmilla raised her gaze, anger simmering within her dark eyes. 

 

“But I so had it coming, didn’t I?”

 

“Look, I didn’t mean it like that.”

 

“Please.” Carmilla’s mouth twisted up into a snarl. “You think the Dean is raking me out over the coals because I don’t play along with your passive-aggressive chore wheel?” 

 

“No, but … well, why would she be?” 

 

“I said some things she didn’t like.” Her tone had softened to a near vulnerable level that tugged on Laura’s undead heart.  

 

“When, in your seminar?” 

 

The other girl stood up abruptly from her bed. “God, this age doesn’t understand obligation.” Carmilla paused by the window, the light framing her like something out of a Renaissance painting. “It’s like an undersea anchor; impossible to escape.” 

 

“Worried you’re not living up to expectations?” Carmilla lifted her head to meet Laura’s eyes. Once again, the age in Carmilla’s eyes haunted Laura. “Only child of a massively overprotective dad here?  And I didn’t even have to get all Coleridge-y about it.” The last line managed to bring a small smile to Carmilla; Laura was struck in that moment with how beautiful the other girl was. 

 

That beautiful moment lasted only for a moment before it was shattered by Danny appearing in the doorway. For the first time, Laura regretted Danny’s appearance. She had finally started to break through Carmilla’s many, many walls, but as soon as Danny appeared, those walls built themselves back up. 

 

Carmilla started moving to leave even before Danny was fully in the room. Gone was the vulnerable girl afraid of expectation and the combative person who stomped around had returned with a vengeance.

 

At least Danny had brought some exciting new evidence with her. The weirdos at the Alchemy Club in all their creepiness managed to have photos of all of the events. And that could be the breakthrough they needed. 

 

But it still tugged at Laura’s heart when Carmilla made a hasty exit, the barest evidence of tears still in her eyes. 

 

xxx

 

Laura didn’t see Carmilla for almost two days after that. She had no idea where her roommate had disappeared to. She was haunted by the broken look in Carmilla’s eyes before they had been interrupted. 

 

She just wanted to know if the younger girl was alright. And of course, there was also the fact that Carmilla had had an alarming habit of showing up at the events that the girls disappeared from. 

 

Within minutes of Danny leaving, Carmilla appeared in the doorway, looking no worse for wear. 

 

“Where have you been?” Laura asked, spinning in her chair to watch Carmilla sulk over to her side of the room. 

 

“What’s it matter to you, poptart?” Carmilla tossed her bag onto her bed before rooting around the fridge for her soy milk. 

 

“I was just wondering. You’ve been gone for two days.” 

 

“Sorry I didn’t want to hang around with you and the Jolly Red Giant. Did you finally work up the courage to kiss her? Or would that require a step ladder?” 

 

Laura rolled her eyes. “Has anybody ever told you you’re infuriating?” 

 

Carmilla let out a short bark of laughter. “Once or twice, cupcake. Don’t worry, you’re not special.” 

 

“So where were you?” 

 

“Around.” 

 

“At one of your study buddies?” 

 

“Jealous, cupcake?” Carmilla lounged across her bed, her shirt riding up to expose pale skin. 

 

Laura was struck in that moment with how hungry she was. She should probably take an hour or so to head over to the medical center and grab a few blood packs. She was endeavouring not to keep any blood in the room; that just seemed rude. 

 

“All you have to do is ask.” 

 

“Huh?” Laura shook her head to clear her mind of the slowly growing hunger. 

 

“I said if you were interested, all you had to do was ask. I’d be happy to help you relive some of that tension if Xena isn’t up for all of your,” Carmilla’s eyes raked over Laura’s body slowly, “desires.” A few splutters escaped Laura’s mouth involuntarily. “No need for that, cutie. It is a bit of a cliche, the naive, provincial girl…” 

 

“Who’s saying I’m naive?” 

 

Carmilla’s eyebrows shot up towards her hairline as she smirked. “You have a vibe.” Carmilla lazily waved a hand towards Laura. “I didn’t say that was a bad thing.” 

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” 

 

Laura stood up abruptly, retrieving her jacket. 

 

“You know I would, cupcake!” Carmilla called after her as she reached the door. 

 

Carmilla remained the worst roommate ever. 

 

xxx

 

Laura shot straight up in her bed, blindly clutching for something. Everything was dark. It shouldn’t be dark. She was drowning in bed. She couldn’t breathe. 

 

A light flickered on, revealing Carmilla’s side of the room. 

 

“Cupcake?” The other girl’s voice was still husky from sleep. “Everything alright over there? You screamed.” 

 

“Huh? What? Sorry.” Laura scrubbed a hand over her face. “Sorry, what?” 

 

“You screamed in your dream. Was it a nightmare?” 

 

The whole scenario was overwhelming, but by far the most overwhelming was the compassion in Carmilla’s voice. 

 

“Huh, yeah, it was so dark but there was a girl, she was so far away and when I got closer, suddenly there was blood everywhere and I couldn’t breathe.” The irony was not lost on Laura about her complaints about not being able to breathe, but it was still a strange sensation. 

 

“A girl?” 

 

“Yeah, a girl in a white night dress. She was trying to tell me something.” Laura tugged at her hair, her skin itching uncomfortably. 

 

She almost missed the flash of concern in Carmilla’s eyes in the shadows of the room. 

 

“Is this the first time you’ve had this nightmare?” 

 

“I think so, I’m not sure.” 

 

“You know, if you wanted, I could get you something to help you sleep?” 

 

“Really?” 

 

Carmilla smiled ruefully. “I’m no stranger to nightmares. I’ll get you something that’ll help.” 

 

xxx

 

When her roommate had offered to get her something to help her sleep, Laura had expected a tea or a pill. She certainly didn’t expect a vampire repelling charm. 

 

As Carmilla tied the charm to her wrist, Laura fought back the urge to rip it off her wrist and throw it out the window. It made her skin crawl. 

 

“It’s a charm or whatever. To help with the bad dreams.” Carmilla explained as she finished tying it off. There was almost a smile on her face, which was as disconcerting as it was pretty. 

 

“Right….” Laura ground her back teeth against the crawling sensation under her skin. “Thank you. So, in the spirit of newfound closeness I don’t suppose you’d tell me where you went for those two days?” 

 

“Hmm, well, I need to keep some of my secrets,” whispered Carmilla, leaning in close to Laura’s ear. “Otherwise I’ll lose my air of mystery.” Before Laura could react, Carmilla stood up and walked backwards towards the door. She flashed a wink Laura’s way before vanishing out the door. 

 

Laura twisted towards the camera, her jaw hanging loose. “Was she just…. No… she wouldn’t.” 

 

As soon as Carmilla swung the door shut, Laura tore the charm off her wrist and tossed it towards her bed. At first, she shoved it under her bed, but then thought better of it and shoved it under Carmilla’s bed. 

 

A full body shudder rolled through her at the thought of the vampire repellent. Why would Carmilla give her a vampire repellent? 

 

xxx

 

There was officially something hinky going on with her roommate. Like supernatural, crazy super hinky. Like what in the name of Helga Hufflepuff was going on hinky. Like Carmilla might be some sort of supernatural being hinky. 

 

And Danny was almost yelling at her. 

 

Laura almost wanted to cry. But vampires don’t cry, right? 

 

The guilt of putting her friends at risk for her own gain, even if it was LaFontaine’s idea in the first place, ate away at the pit of Laura’s stomach. She should know better. She should’ve been more careful. 

 

But on the upside, they had found new evidence about the disappearing girls. Which it would seem Carmilla was at the center of, with a dizzying array of anagram names. 

 

Like really, who did she think she was fooling? Mircalla, Arcillma, Carmilla, for real? Did she have no creativity? You would think after at least 80 years she would figure something better out. 

 

Holy shit. Carmilla could be at least 80 years old. And she fills her soy milk containers with blood. 

 

“Well, yeah,” LaFontaine interjected. Laura’s eyes widened momentarily; she did not mean to say that outloud. “But we know she’s a vampire.  I mean, we’ve know that since the blood in the milk container, right? Vampire? Vampire? Vampire, yeah?” 

 

When she replayed the video later, Laura looked appropriately shocked for somebody finding out her vampire might be a roommate. However, that was the least of Laura’s concerns. 

 

The real problem was the ‘capture the vampire’ plot Laura now found herself integral to. There was something fundamentally flawed with this whole use the vampire as vampire bait theory for the girl who was certainly not a vampire (Laura would’ve known, wouldn’t she?). 

 

She also wasn’t all too keen on the glint in Danny’s eye as she researched ways to kill a vampire. Laura wanted to think it was just because the whole ‘seduction eyes’ thing, but another part of her was increasingly concerned that Danny had a problem with vampires. And thus had a problem with her.      

 

After a long planning session of how to capture Carmilla, and then a strange visit from SJ and Natalie, Laura was finally alone with her thoughts. 

 

There was no way in hell her roommate was a vampire. She would’ve known. She couldn’t have missed out on everything. Everybody was just overreacting to a few coincidences. 

 

Carmilla was just a particularly aggravating, angsty teenager, who pulled a stupid prank, and prefered to sleep during the day, and wear a lot of black, and  -

 

“That must be some Snape/Ron fanfiction you’re reading, cutie.” Laura jumped about a foot out of her chair, spinning to glare at Carmilla. “You’re twitchy.” 

 

Laura was mid-thought in a witty comment when Carmilla sauntered over to the fridge and Laura’s gaze involuntarily flitted to Carmilla’s ass. Those leather pants were definitely not fair. 

 

“See something you like, buttercup?” Carmilla called over her shoulder. 

 

Laura shook her head. She needed to get herself under control. Why was it that Carmilla always appeared when Laura’s hunger was making itself known? 

 

“Huh?” 

 

“You’re staring.” 

 

“Was not.” 

 

“Whatever you want to tell yourself, cupcake.” Carmilla situated herself on the edge of her bed nearest to Laura’s desk. 

 

Okay, there were definite ‘seduction eyes’. But Carmilla still wasn’t a vampire. There was no way. 

 

“Do you want to go to dinner with me?” 

 

“Dinner?” 

 

“Yes, a meal you normally eat at nighttime.” 

 

“With you?” 

 

“Yeah, like a roommate thing.” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“Okay? Wait, you’re actually agreeing to have dinner with me? Did you get hit on the head?” Laura put the back of her hand against Carmilla’s forehead. After a moment, she pulled back as if she had been burned. “Oh, sorry.” 

 

“I’m hungry.” Carmilla shrugged one shoulder carelessly. “Where are we going?” 

 

Laura gaped at Carmilla. “Uh….” 

 

“There’s a diner not far from here.” 

 

“Right. Yeah.” 

 

“Are we going?” 

 

“Yeah. Going. To dinner. Together.” 

 

Carmilla chuckled lowly before standing to her feet and pulling Laura with her. “Don’t forget a jacket, cutie. It’s getting pretty cold out there.” 

 

Laura trailed after her roommate, almost speechless. Why was Carmilla being so nice? 

 

The pair walked silently to the small 24 hour diner down the street from their dorm.

 

The diner was almost completely empty when they got there. A disinterested middle aged woman named Nan gestured wordlessly towards the empty seating area, not even looking up from her crossword. A couple of Zetas were sitting near the window so Laura and Carmilla took the booth furthest from them. 

 

“What do you two want to drink?” Nan called from the counter, her tone flat. 

 

“Hot chocolate for me please.” Laura said. 

 

“I’ll take a chocolate milkshake.” 

 

“You want whipper cream?” 

 

“Sure.” 

 

Laura raised an eyebrow at Carmilla. “I didn’t see you as the milkshake type.” 

 

“What type did you think I was?” 

 

“I dunno. Just straight vodka and black coffee.” 

 

“Hm. I prefer champagne.” 

 

“Sounds pricey. Where would you even find champagne here?” 

 

“A girl has her methods.” Carmilla smirked at Laura before turning her attention towards the menu. “The first party I ever went to served champagne.” 

 

Before Laura could inquire further, Nan arrived with their drinks, slamming them down on the table. 

 

“She’s cheerful,” commented Carmilla drily. Laura sipped at her hot coco, even if she really couldn’t taste it at all. “You’ve got a bit,” Carmilla leaned forward and swiped a hand over Laura’s nose, “of whipped cream on your nose.” 

 

“Uh, thanks.” 

 

“Anytime, cupcake.” 

 

One of the Zetas let out a shout, throwing something at one of his friends. 

 

“So, this party you mentioned, how old were you?” 

 

“16, it was for my parents’ anniversary.” An almost wistful look took over Carmilla’s face. She was staring at a spot on the table with a smile tugging up one corner of her mouth. “It was a shimmering night.” 

 

“Sounds fun. I think I drank Malibu at my first party. It was… unpleasant.” 

 

Carmilla lifted her gaze to Laura’s. “Maybe someday we can share a bottle…” 

 

“That’d be nice. Actually, there’s this party tomorrow night that the Zetas are throwing, and I was thinking, since we got off to such a rocky start as roommates, that we could go together? You know, hang out for a while? Look at the stars.” 

 

Something flashed across Carmilla’s dark eyes and she nodded. “I think I’d like that very much.” 

 

“Great, so I wa-” 

 

“What do you two want to eat?” Nan was back. 

 

“I’ll take a burger, rare. Nothing on it.” Carmilla shoved the menu back behind the napkin dispenser while Laura hurriedly scanned the menu. 

 

“Uh… I’ll take, uh, some pancakes and a side of sausage.” 

 

Carmilla raised an eyebrow at her order. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat something that’s not straight sugar.” 

 

“I got a sausage, didn’t I?” 

 

“The pinnacle of health there, cupcake.” 

 

“You’re the one who always calls me pastry names.” Laura shot back. “Cupcake, poptart, creampuff, I could go on.” 

 

“Maybe I’m just hungry.” If Laura didn’t know any better, she’d say that Carmilla looked like she wanted to take a bite out of her. But she wouldn’t. Because that would officially make Laura the worst vampire. 

 

Laura fiddled with the napkin in front of her, suddenly very aware of how quiet the diner had become after the Zetas left. She had no idea what to talk to Carmilla about. All she knew about her roommate was she liked leather, she rarely did anything during the day, and she had a penchant for stealing Laura’s things, namely her yellow pillow. 

 

“When’s your birthday?” Laura finally asked, attempting to rectify how little she knew. 

 

“April 3rd.” 

 

“What year?” 

 

Laura almost expected her to say the turn of the century. But instead she just said, “1996.” 

 

Laura waited for a moment to see if Carmilla would reciprocate the question. “Mine’s the 23rd of October, 1995.” 

 

“It’s coming up soon then.” 

 

“Yep.” 

 

“Look, we don’t need to do this whole small talk thing.” 

 

“No, no, I want to know more about you,” insisted Laura. “Like all of those books you read, are they for classes or just for fun? What are you reading? I noticed some of them are pretty significant philosophy tracts, kind of heavy stuff.” 

 

Carmilla tilted her head in interest. “Most are for my own pleasure. I tend towards philosophy and the classics I suppose.” 

 

“What are you reading right now? I’ve had loads of Kipling in my Lit class.” 

 

“Ah yes, ‘Black as the pit and terrible as the night was Bagheera.’ I always loved that. It’s beautiful.” 

 

“Why am I not surprised that you find the whole terrifying giant black cat cool?” Laura shook her head in amusement. There were somethings that were easy to predict about the other girl. 

 

“There’s beauty in the dark, in the night,” Carmilla turned her gaze towards the night sky beyond the window. “It’s comforting, to think how small we are in comparison.  All the lives we’ve led, the people we’ve been, nothing to that light.”

 

“You’re definitely a philosophy major, aren’t you?” Laura’s tone was almost fond as she watched Carmilla watch the night sky.  

 

The doors swung open and there was a burst of noise. 

 

“Oh joy, your girlfriend’s here.” Carmilla nodded towards the door and sure enough, Danny had just walked in with some of her Summer Society friends. “Aren’t you going to go say hi?” 

 

The image of Danny frantically and eagerly googling how to kill a vampire surfaced in Laura’s mind. “Uhh, she’s with her friends.” 

 

“Is it the height difference?” quipped Carmilla, taking a long sip of her milkshake. 

 

“Carmilla.” 

 

“What? It’s true.” 

 

“You don’t need to be so rude.”

 

“Burger with nothing on it. And pancakes with sausage.” Nan, with her ever cheerful attitude, slid each of their meals in front of them. 

 

“Thank you.” Laura tried to garner a smile out of the waitress, but she had already bustled off to the Summers’ table. “She’s a real people person, isn’t she?” 

 

“I don’t blame her. Dealing with college kids every day, year after year, it must be exhausting.” 

 

Neither girl did much more than pick at their food in feigned interest. Laura didn’t mind the sausages, but too much of the pancakes would just give her a stomach ache. 

 

“Laura!” Laura turned in her seat to see Danny already walking over towards her. “Hey, I didn’t see you there. Oh, and you’re here.” 

 

“I’m here,” echoed Carmilla in a snarky tone, saluting Danny. 

 

“What are you two doing here?” 

 

“What does it look like we’re doing?” 

 

“Carmilla.” 

 

“Look, Elvira, I don’t know what your damage is, but-” 

 

“Danny, everything’s fine. I promise.”

 

“Laura,” began Danny in a placating voice. 

 

Carmilla threw a couple bills on the table. “I’ll see you later, cupcake. Hope I don’t see you again, Clifford.” She quickly moved towards the door, giving Danny a wide berth. 

 

“Carmilla! Wait!” Laura stood up and faced Danny. “Danny, I was trying to get her to open up to me so we could figure out if she’s,” Laura’s voice dropped to a whisper, “a vampire.” She nervously glanced towards the door, but Carmilla had already left. 

 

“Laura, she literally was keeping blood in your room! What more evidence of vampire do you want?” 

 

“I don’t think she’s a vampire. I just watched her eat real, human food. And her birthday is 96, so she’s not more than 18 years old. She just happens to sleep on a weird schedule.” 

 

“Laura, it’s sweet that you think so well of everybody. But all the evidence points towards Carmilla. Look, we have our plan to capture her tomorrow. You’re still in for it, right?” Laura nodded warily. “Hey, if you want, you can join me and the Summers for milkshakes?” Danny looked so hopeful, but Laura didn’t really want to spend anymore time around Danny after all of the anti-vampire speak. 

 

“I’ve got a class early tomorrow, so I think I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

 

Laura rushed out of the diner, hoping to catch up with Carmilla. She had finally made a breakthrough and then the moment was broken. 

 

She couldn’t find Carmilla on her walk home, much to her displeasure. 

 

When she walked into the room, there was a distinctly human shaped lump on Carmilla’s bed. Laura leaned over Carmilla carefully. Carmilla’s lashes brushed the tops of her cheek, partially obscured by her dark hair falling across her face. Her breathing was slow and steady as she slept. 

 

Further proof that Carmilla was not a vampire. Vampires don’t breathe when they sleep. Vampires don’t need to breathe period. 

 

Laura crept back over to her side of the room and settled into her bed. 

 

She slowly drifted off to the sound of Carmilla’s breathing. 

 

xxx

 

“Don’t you look like a virgin sacrifice?” 

 

“I’m not the one in a corset, which … wow.  Also, what is happening there?” Laura raked her eyes over Carmilla’s body and just, wow, she was actually wearing a corset. And carrying what looked to be a very expensive bottle of champagne. 

 

Carmilla joined Laura at the back of the room, settling on her bed. She pour them each a glass and held one up for Laura. 

 

“Well, the more I thought about a bonfire with those lackwits, the less interested I was.  Parties should be a shimmering moment of possibility, not a collection of brutes around a piece of flaming driftwood.  So, I brought the party here.” 

 

“Where did you even find this?” 

 

“I have my methods. And given that we spoke about it yesterday, I thought it would be appropriate.” 

 

Laura sipped at it. It just tasted like money. “It’s delicious.” 

 

“I’m glad you like it, cupcake.” Carmilla shifted closer to Laura, their knees knocking together. “Look, there’s something-” 

 

The door burst open and the room was flooded with a mixture of Summers and Zetas. 

 

“You! Get away from her!” Danny shouted, brandishing a string of garlic that came far too close to Laura’s face for her liking. 

 

Laura found herself thrown to the ground by her bed as everybody rushed Carmilla. Carmilla put up a good fight, but the lack of space and overwhelming number of people left her tied to a chair with a string of garlic around her neck and tape over her mouth. 

 

However, given the fact that Carmilla had thrown LaFontaine across the room and definitely broke creepy Will’s collarbone, there was a very, very high chance that her roommate was a vampire. 

 

A vampire who she tied up. As in one vampire tying another vampire up. And Carmilla, if she was going off of those pictures, was definitely older than her and thus more powerful and more able to fuck her up. Oh hell, what has she done? 

 

This whole situation moved quickly behind minor kidnapping nightmare to full on ‘we got the wrong person’ nightmare when Kirsch came running in, babbling about SJ falling off the building. 

 

“You can’t just keep a hostage in your dorm room, Laura!  I mean, I know this is Silas, but somebody is bound to notice if you keep a girl trussed up in here for God knows how long.” Perry glanced nervously between the trussed up Carmilla and the door. 

 

“You really think that, hunh?  I could take her to the bio lab.  I”m sure there’s all sorts of things we could figure out through some minimally-invasive probing,” both Laura and Perry shot Laf concerned looks, “Or a voluntary questionnaire.” Laura was not all too fond of the way Laf seemed to be designing invasive testing around Carmilla. 

 

“We could take her to the Summer Society department.  There’s a storage room in the back …” Danny also seemed a bit too eager to have Carmilla tied up in the Summer house. 

 

“No!  She’s our only lead.  She stays exactly where she is until she tells us what’s going on and how she’s involved.  If we get caught, you guys can just blame me. Worst thing they can do is expel me, and by comparison that’s not seeming so dire.” Laura was fully aware she was babbling, but she really needed to get everybody out so she could untie Carmilla. 

 

“It’ll seem dire once they start your tribunal.”

 

“My what now?”

 

Perry shook her head disapprovingly. “You really need to read your student handbook.”

 

“We should definitely interrogate her though,” Laf started. Perry glared at her. “What? We already have her tied up, so we might as well use it to figure out what’s going on.” 

 

“They have a point,” Laura nodded, shifting closer to Carmilla, figuring she was the safest person to deal with the potentially homicidal vampire. “Alright, vampire.  We know that you’ve been stalking those girls and we know that … you’re a vampire! So the sooner you ‘fess us and tell us what’s going on, the better this is gonna go for you because we have got … a spatula, and a stapler, and we are not afraid to use them, so you better start singin’!” 

 

“Uh, Laura, she’s still got the …” Laf gestured towards the tape over Carmilla’s mouth. 

 

“Oh, right.  Uh, maybe this will get you talking,” Laura ripped the tape off as gently as possible, “So, spill.  How did two more girls end up kidnapped and murdered when we’ve got you tied up here?” 

 

Carmilla glared up at her, her dark eyes sparking with fury. “Because I didn’t do it, you dimwits.” 

 

“Why should we believe you? That you’re innocent just because you said you’re innocent?” 

 

“Yeah, cause that seems like a stretch.  Look, if I were really a vampire, would I just stay here, tied up, proclaiming my innocence as some sort of trick?”

 

“Yeah.  That’s completely exactly what a vampire would do.  We have, like, forty hours of video documentation. Bet you wish you’d watched my project now, hunh?” Laura winced as her hand brushed the garlic around Carmilla’s neck. 

 

Carmilla rolled her eyes again. “Fine.  So I’m a vampire. But I couldn’t’ve made off with either of the two cupcakes because I was here with you, and then I was here being ambushed by toddlers the whole time.”

 

“It could’ve been an accomplice!” 

 

“Do I strike you as a person who plays well with others?” 

 

“Well, if you weren’t snacking on coeds, what were you doing following them around at parties?”

 

“I’m a popular girl.  I get a lot of invitations.  Not everyone has to resort to bush-league investigative journalism to get their kicks.”

 

“So you’re saying you’re a vampire, but not a kidnapper.” Laura stated. 

 

“She’s got us there.  Assuming she’s up to something diabolical just because she’s -” Lafontaine interjected. 

 

Danny moved forward aggressively, “An undead fiend from the pits of Hell?”

 

“I’m from Eastern Europe.” There was a simultaneous raising of eyebrows. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.” 

 

Needless to say, their interrogation did not go any better. 

 

After almost two hours of mindless questioning from Laura and her friends, the three gingers finally went their separate ways. 

 

“It’s just you and me now, cupcake.” 

 

Laura quickly locked their door and rushed to Carmilla’s side. “I am so, so sorry.” 

 

“For which part? The assualt, the kidnapping or the inane questioning?” 

 

Laura winced. “That’s fair. I, uh, let me just untie you.” 

 

Carmilla twisted as much as possible to stare at Laura. “After all of that you’re just letting me go? What is Ginger-o-seven going to think of this?” 

 

Laura crouched behind Carmilla to tear through the knots. “Wait, which one is that?” 

 

“Does it matter? Why are you letting me go?” Carmilla slowly moved her arms forward, rubbing at the marks on her skin. 

 

“Uh, because I’m also a vampire and it just seems kind of unfair to leave you all tied up when I’m a vampire too.”    

  
  


  
  


  
  



	2. slipping through the years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re a baby, aren’t you?”
> 
>  
> 
> “Well we can’t all be elderly vampires with a cliche love of leather.”
> 
>  
> 
> “Ouch.” Carmilla deadpanned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter ii. title from "you can do better than me" by death cab for cutie
> 
> disclaimer: of course i own nothing

**chapter ii. slipping through the years**

 

_ Previously…  _

 

Carmilla twisted as much as possible to stare at Laura. “After all of that you’re just letting me go? What is Ginger-o-seven going to think of this?” 

 

Laura crouched behind Carmilla to tear through the knots. “Wait, which one is that?” 

 

“Does it matter? Why are you letting me go?” Carmilla slowly moved her arms forward, rubbing at the marks on her skin. 

 

“Uh, because I’m also a vampire and it just seems kind of unfair to leave you all tied up when I’m a vampire too.”  

 

xxx

 

Laura flashed a smile, exposing her fangs. She had fully expected Carmilla to react in some way, but Carmilla simply nodded. 

 

“You’re not exactly subtle, cutie.” Carmilla finally said, chuckling lowly. 

 

Laura’s mouth fell open as she stared at her roommate/fellow vampire. “I’m not subtle? What? Coming from Ms. I keep my milk in the soy milk? Really?” 

 

“And yet you seemed to not think I was a vampire until tonight, so more subtle than you.” Laura grabbed a wooden spoon abandoned by somebody and used the handle to lift the garlic string off of Carmilla’s neck. It sort of got stuck in Carmilla’s hair and Laura was trying to use the spoon to little success. Carmilla huffed out a sigh and ripped the string off of her head. 

 

“Did you just touch that? That should’ve hurt you.” 

 

“Garlic? Really, cupcake? I’m 340 years old. Garlic is just a minor irritation at this point. It’s not like holy water or silver.” 

 

“But it hurts me?” 

 

“God, who turned you? Did they not tell you anything?” Carmilla shook her head before quickly moving to the window to toss the garlic outside. “Very few herbs maintain potency against vampires after a century or two. Thus, garlic is not a problem for me. And hasn’t been since the late 1700s.” Carmilla lounged back on her bed, watching Laura with thinly veiled amusement. 

 

“I know things.” Laura pouted, dropping into the chair Carmilla had been previously tied up on. “You’re 340 years old?” 

 

“Give or take.” Carmilla shrugged as if discussing the weather. “So how old are you then? Obviously less than a century. And you’re just barely in control of yourself, so it’s still fairly recent.” 

 

“It’ll be 25 years in March. I was 19.” 

 

“You’re a baby, aren’t you?” 

 

“Well we can’t all be elderly vampires with a cliche love of leather.” 

 

“Ouch.” Carmilla deadpanned. 

 

“Okay, so you’re a vampire, that’s all well and good, but what do you have to do with the missing girls? I need to hear your side of this whole story.” 

 

“My side of the story? Alright, then.  Buckle up, creampuff. We’re gonna be in for a long night.” Laura pushed her chair over by Carmilla’s bed. “You might want to turn off your little camera, and erase the last ten minutes. Unless you want everybody to know about your little secret?” 

 

“Oh, right, yeah.” Laura pressed the off button and then focused back on Carmilla. “I don’t suppose you’ve still got blood in the fridge? I haven’t had a chance to get over to the medical center today.” 

 

“Sure thing, baby fangs.” 

 

Laura sheepishly made her way over to the fridge and prepared two cups of blood. She settled back down after handing Carmilla her cup. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s here your side of the story.” 

 

“I was born Mircalla, daughter of the Count Karnstein in Styria, a duchy of Austria in 1680.  Austria was embroiled in the great war against the Ottoman Empire, but such things meant little to a wealthy girl.  When I was eighteen, I attended a ball where I was murdered …” 

 

“Wait, wait, wait, you can’t just say this like it’s some boring history lesson! You got murdered! This is dangerous, this is exciting!” 

 

“Do you want me to tell the story or not?” 

 

“I do, I do. Just like, don’t be boring about it.” 

 

“Fine, cupcake.” Carmilla let out a long suffering sigh. 

 

“So you were murdered…?” 

 

“Yes, I was murdered at a ball when I was eighteen. But Mother raised me. I knew nothing of her, but she was ancient and she was very wise and she pried apart the  jaws of death to rescue me from my untimely death.” Laura almost had to suppress a chuckle at Carmilla’s dramatics. How did she not realize she was a vampire?

 

“The wide world … did open before me in death as it had never been in life.  We danced in the mirrored halls of Versailles.” A wistful, faraway look overtook any lingering traces of irritation in Carmilla’s gaze. “We watched the stars whirl over seas no man had named.  We saw the birth of a new world in science and philosophy and revolution. Every night was a grand ball … a hunt … a feast. But, every twenty years we would return here and perform a strange ritual. Mother would arrange for me to meet a young girl.  I’d be abandoned at a ball or there’d be a carriage wreck, and some kind stranger and his ward, like a niece or a daughter, would be gallant enough to take me in. Pretty soon, she and I would become fast friends. Inseparable. But, of course, my new friend would fall ill.  I think you recognize the symptoms. Strange behavior. Weakness of the mind. And, before long it would be time for me to rejoin my mother in search of my next friend.” 

 

Carmilla curled in on herself, turning away from Laura. 

 

“Uh, you know, you’re not really making a good argument for not being a kidnapper here.” 

 

Carmilla shot an irritated glare towards the younger girl. 

 

“I- I was never an abductor.  I was a lure. And that’s how I met Ell. It was 1872, the Metropolitan Museum of Art had just opened in New York, and I wanted more than anything to sail to see it.  But Maman insisted. The game started off the same. Carriage wreck, promise of shelter, fast friendship. Only this time, nothing was a lie.”

 

“You fell in love.” 

 

“Yes. Like nothing I had felt before. When … the time came to take Ell to my mother, I … I couldn’t bear to give her up.  So, I planned our escape and went ahead to make preparations.” Carmilla swiped at her eyes hastily. Laura’s heart ached for Carmilla and her broken heart. “But, um, when the time came for Ell to meet me, disaster struck.  I had … taken great lengths to hide what I was from her. But, Maman went to her in secret and revealed my true nature in the most horrifying light. Ell believed me to be a monster, and led Maman to where I waited. And so, my price for the disobedience was to … watch Ell be taken away to some … certain doom.  And to be sealed in a coffin of blood that I may waste away my long centuries in the dark.” 

 

“Oh, Carm,” Laura sighed, moving up to the bed to sit next to the dark haired girl. She rested one of her hands on Carmilla’s thigh, swiping her thumb over her the leather soothingly.   

 

“For decades, I rotted under the earth.  And then the war came. The last great war of the modern world.  That rent the earth with tanks and mines and bombs. So, my punishment came to an end and I walked off the battlefield in Austria to greet the 20th century.  Maman found me in Paris in the 1950s and … didn’t have the heart to reinter me. I was of more use here, where … the details had changed but the game had not.  I was to … meet girls and make friends, and see to it that the blossoms were ready to be plucked when Maman decided.” 

 

Laura slid backwards, tilting her head. “So, after all that, you just went back to abducting girls?” Laura couldn’t keep the disapproving note out of her voice. 

 

“No, I pretended to go along. I had no choice!” Carmilla twisted towards Laura, her free hand landing on top of Laura’s. She sounded desperate to convince Laura. “But I ruined opportunities where I could.  I sent girls fleeing back to the safety of mothers and fathers and fallback schools. There can be … great satisfaction in small revenges. And I never knew what use Maman had for the girls. It was always a secret she’d kept from me, but I could afford to bide my time, so I watched and I waited.  Until I learned what I had truly been a part of all along. What I had betrayed Ell to before she betrayed me. So there you go, quite the vampire tragic backstory.” 

 

“Wow. So you’ve been helping girls escape? Did you help Betty?” 

 

Carmilla dropped her chin to her chest. “No.” 

 

“So, someone that she knew, someone she thought was her friend, was really a vampire?  And they took her for your mother.” Carmilla nodded. “So , we find your mother and we get our friends back.” Carmilla let out a back of laughter. “What’s so funny?  We caught you.” 

 

“Yeah.  And, as humiliating as that was, it doesn’t change the fact that my mom will scoop out your eyeballs and serve them in martinis.  You’re already terrified of her. She’s the Dean.” 

 

“The Dean? Is your mother?” 

 

“Yep.” 

 

“Holy crap. But she’s, and she’s also, wow. That’s, wow. So the Dean’s a vampire? Why is that so fitting?” 

 

“Because she’s a terrifying bureaucratic nightmare?” 

 

“Something like that.” Laura raked a hand through her hair. “Wow, okay, this is a lot to take in. I really didn’t you were a vampire, much less the Dean.” 

 

Carmilla rolled her eyes fondly. “So now do I get to hear your appropriately dramatic tale of woe?” 

 

“Tale of woe? You really are a cliche, aren’t you?” 

 

“C’mon now, cupcake, I told you mine and gave you blood. Now it’s your turn.” 

 

“Fine, fine, but it’s not as exciting as yours.” 

 

“It’s not a competition.” 

 

“I was born in 1971 in Canada. My father was a police officer and my mother taught English at a local high school. We had three dogs when I was little, these massive hunting dogs. They were all such sweethearts. We lived at the end of a street in a little yellow house. It wasn’t big, but it was home. When I was 8 though, my mother got sick. One day she was fine, making my lunches and reading stories to me, and the next she was gone.” 

 

“I’m sorry,” said Carmilla, nudging Laura’s arm with her elbow. 

 

“Thanks. After my mom died, my dad became incredibly overprotective, but I was so determined to make my own path and go to university. All I wanted was to do was become a journalist.” 

 

“That does explain the whole Lauronica Mars vibe happening here.” 

 

“Hush, you. So I graduated and went off to college and was working towards my journalism degree. But my dad was still so scared about me being away so I commuted to and from school. One night, I stayed late at the school paper to work on an expose on the football coach stealing money from the university. It started raining and the bus skidded out of control and wrapped around a telephone pole. I guess I died on impact, honestly it’s still a bit fuzzy. My father just happened to be on the bus with me. He turned me. Sherman, that’s my dad. We went to go find my birth father after a few years, once I was more in control. But he was gone. He couldn’t bear to live without me or my mom.” Carmilla intertwined their fingers, squeezing slightly. “I fell apart. I went to my parents’ graves and cried for three days. He died because he missed me. And I was just a flight away the whole time.” 

 

“Hey, hey, Laura,” crooned Carmilla, brushing a few stray tears from Laura’s cheeks, “it’s not your fault. I’m sure your father knew that you loved him.” 

 

“It just hurts to think he died thinking he was alone.” 

 

“You were always with him. I’m sure he always knew you were with him.” 

 

Laura sniffed, raising her red eyes up to meet Carmilla’s dark eyes. “So, Sherman turned me and I went back to school in America and got my degree in journalism. Sherman specializes in helping where supernatural issues impact the human population negatively. It’s been a way for me to continue with my journalistic career. And I read about the disappearing girls at Silas and here I am.” 

 

“What are the odds, cupcake?” Carmilla leaned in closer to Laura. “Of all the dorm rooms, in all the universities, I walked into the one with another vampire.” 

 

“Oh my god, you’re actually a complete dork.” 

 

“What are you talking about?” 

 

Laura burst into laughter at the offended look on the other girl’s face. “Most people don’t quote old movies at the drop of a hat.” 

 

“It’s a classic!” 

 

“Alright, grandma.” Laura jabbed an elbow into Carmilla’s side. “So I’ve got a question, why are all vampires so obsessed with the moon landing? It’s all anybody ever talks about. I don’t get it. I mean sure it’s cool that humans landed on the moon, but like, some vampires are obsessed with it.”

 

“It was a symbol of human possibility. After half a century of enough death and destruction to even turn a vampire’s stomach, the very concept that humans could still grow, still change and discover.” Carmilla’s gaze slid to the window where the flashing lights of the party could still be seen. “Imagine watching the fall of the Roman Empire, and then seeing a man walk on the moon. Even to an immortal being, it represents progress and innovation.” 

 

Laura paused, soaking in Carmilla’s words. “You really are a philosophy major.” Her eyes then went wide and she grabbed at Carmilla’s arm. “Wait, do you know somebody who watched the Fall of the Roman Empire?”

 

“Knowing Mattie, I wouldn’t be surprised if she contributed to the fall in some way, but yes.” 

 

Laura’s mind reeled. She thought a 500 year old vampire was impressive. To have lived so long and seen so much, what a great and terrible burden. Even within her 24 years as a vampire, Laura felt as if she had experienced more than the average human. 

 

“The most exciting thing I’ve witnessed was the fall of the Berlin Wall, and that wasn’t even when I was a vampire.” 

 

“That was a fun day.”

 

“You were there?”

 

“Seemed interesting at the time.” 

 

“Seemed interesting at the time?” echoed Laura, her voice steadily rising in pitch. “The fall of the Berlin Wall seemed  _ interesting at the time _ ? I think I got class off to watch it.” 

 

“Cupcake, when you’ve been around as long as I have, watching great powers rise and fall becomes increasingly less interesting.” 

 

“And when does the melodrama begin?” Laura asked, her mouth quirking up in a smile. “Or were you just born like this?”

 

Carmilla huffed in faux irritation. “You might be the worst vampire I’ve ever met. Which is why I’d assume none of your little friends have figured it out?” 

 

If she had been human, Laura was positive her cheeks would be bright pink. “Yeah, I don’t really give off big, scary vampire vibes, unlike some.” She cast a disparaging glance towards Carmilla. “I mean, Perry doesn’t even really think you’re a vampire. LaFontaine might suspect something, but I doubt she’d suspect anything right now. And then Danny, she was a little bit too keen on ways to kill you. She was sort of stuck on setting you on fire.”

 

“I’ll set her on fire,” grumbled Carmilla. 

 

“No, you won’t.” Carmilla stuck her tongue out. “But regardless, I’m not sure she’d take the whole vampire thing.”

 

“You dimwits did tie me up on suspicion of being a vampire.” 

 

“To be fair, they were right. But for now, I think it’s best that we keep this a secret. It will give us the element of surprise against the Dean.”

 

“Are you still going on about that?” groaned Carmilla. “My mother is the most ancient being I’ve ever come across. She’s not going to let some teenager kill her. Many have tried and failed. And she will kill all of you.”

 

“But the element of surprise!” Laura grabbed Carmilla’s arm in her eagerness. Her skin was like cold stone; had she really never touched her roommate before? Because if she had she would’ve known that there was something hinky with Carmilla. 

 

“Oh, that’s adorable. You really think that she doesn’t know about you?” Laura shook her head fiercely. “The whole reason I was assigned to be your roommate was because you were first off, next on the list, and secondly, you started to be a nuisance to the Dean.” 

 

“Wait, I was on the list, as in I’m not anymore?”

 

“Well, I don’t know how to break this to you, but you’re a vampire. Whatever she needs the girls for, they have to be human. And you aren’t human.”

 

Laura pouted. “Okay, but how did you know that I was a vampire? I wasn’t even keep blood in the room, or doing weird vampire-y things.”

 

“For starters, you haven’t got a heartbeat.”

 

“But there’s so many people around, how can you distinguish me from everybody else?”

 

Carmilla sighed heavily before saying, “God, your father really hasn’t taught you much about vampires, has he? So you’re what, 25 years into this? Your body is still adjusting to everything, so your senses are still overwhelmed. It’ll get better with time, but you were probably so bombarded by the heartbeats and noises in the building that you just couldn’t tell mine apart.” 

 

“So you knew from the start?”

 

“Yeah, and trust me, it wasn’t all that pleasant telling Mother that one of her planned sacrifices was already a vampire. She doesn’t take well to being told no. And then she thought somebody was trying to get in on her turf, but then she met you and determined that you were unaffiliated and too young to even mess up on hair in her bun. You listened in on my conversation with her?” Laura nodded, albeit slightly guiltily. “Then you heard first hand how powerful she is.” 

 

“How, you know, how old is she?” 

 

“Well, Mattie, my sister, is thousands of years old, and Maman turned her and she gives off this energy. Like, well, like she’s been here since the beginning of time.” 

 

“I thought she was just scary.”

 

“Well, you’re not wrong. She’s ancient and powerful.” Carmilla moved to sit in front Laura, rising up to her knees. “Laura, you need to be careful. If you run straight at her, she will kill you and anyone with you.” 

 

Laura stared at her for a long moment. “You know, I think that’s the first time you’ve ever used my first name.” 

 

Carmilla tossed her head back in exasperation, her dark hair falling over her shoulders. “You’re ridiculous. And you’re going to get yourself killed. Again.” 

 

“Yeah, yeah, don’t piss off the scary vampire, don’t get yourself killed, got it. Okay, now I’m sorry but I’m going to have to tie you up again.” 

 

“Are you serious?” 

 

“Dead serious.” Carmilla’s bottom lip jutted out in a pout and Laura burst into laughter over how childish she looked. It was as if Laura had taken away her favorite toy. “C’mon, liquid diet, it’ll seem suspicious if you’re untied hours after we captured you.” 

 

“Fine, but if one of the gingers tries anything, I swear I will bite them.” 

 

“Yes, yes, you’re very frightening. If you’re good, I’ll even put on a movie for you.” 

 

Carmilla reluctantly sat back in the chair while Laura wound the ropes around her body again. She did, of course, offer criticism of Laura’s rope technique. Laura threatened to gag her. 

 

“I never would’ve pegged you for so kinky, cupcake. Is that what you and Xena get up to in those late night study sessions?” 

 

“Just for that we recreating your dramatic backstory with sock puppets.” 

 

“Laura, no.” 

 

“Laura, yes.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay the exposition chapter! 
> 
> love to hear from ya'll either here or on tumblr at aurorstonks! 
> 
> -e

**Author's Note:**

> this is so much longer than i thought it would be, but alas, here we are. 
> 
> there will be further explanation in the next chapter as to how all of the vampire stuff works out. 
> 
> would love to hear from you all! come say hey at aurorstonks on tumblr! 
> 
> -e


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